A blog about cycling...especially the long distance stuff

Sunday 7 May 2017

Perth to Adelaide - Day 20 - Nullarbor

After yesterday's burn out, something had to give, there was no way I could sustain another century into the wind. So, for starters I thought I'd leave a bit later to force [myself into] a shorter day and see how I felt at the state border.

I'm really not impressed with the Mundrabilla Roadhouse, whilst not expecting the Ritz in the outback, it had a bad atmosphere, was run down, and the staff didn't seem to care about anything. The only thing positive I can say about it is that I got a good rest there when it was badly needed!


Riding East after breakfast, I had 64 km to cover to get to Eucla first up. The wind was back to the NNE but not too bad so far, and the sore legs appeared to be functional still. I was talking yesterday about the plateau that looked like an ocean shelf and thats exactly what it turned out to be, just before Eucla the road climbs steeply back up onto the shelf and the edge of the plateau forms spectacular ocean cliffs.



At the top of the steep climb was the Eucla roadhouse...a much nicer place. I had a delicious muffin for 2nd breakfast whilst gazing at this sign and running the numbers in my head:


Then kept riding. With a mere 13km to the border and the wind dropping further it was a nice ride, and so good to cross into South Australia!


At the border it was time to stock up on enough water for 2 days as there is now another big gap of 186km before you can get any more.


This road now enters the actual Nullarbor national park and very nice to see the ocean again Australia's southern lands coming to an abrupt and dramatic end where the land meets the South Pacific.



If you are here a little later in the year than I am you can see whales breaching from these cliffs. There are many viewpoints and most are not signposted, but with the cliffs heavily eroded some common sense is needed!




I ran out of daylight with 130km done, the legs a bit better thanks to a shorter day and favourable weather...and what a place to camp in!




Distance today: 130km
Total to date: 2246km

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